Steel railroad-crosstie-welding machine or jig



M ay 28, 19.29. c. EICKEMEYER STEEL RAILROAD CROSSTIE WELDING MACHINE OR JIG original Filed Jan. 6, 1927 2 sheets-sheet 1 NYENTO'? CMLM 5y @WMM May 28, 1929. Q EICKEMEYER 1,714,906

I STEEL RAILROAD cRossTIE WELDING MACHINE OR JIG I2 sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Jan, 6, 1927 /NvE/vTo/f 5f" C3. Q y l@ Amm/Er.

Patentes May as, was.

CARL nrcn'nivrnnn, on BROOKLYN, NEW Yoan; rAULiNn n. nionnarnynn EXECU- anni' or sein cnn-L nicirniyrinvnn, nncnnsnny i STEEL' aAILnoan-ennemie-WELDING Manni-iin on are.

Application filed January 6,

ing parts are welded in inverted position.l

Such reinforced steel made railway ties increase the mechanical wearing properties and the strength of the ties nearly ninety per cent (90%) over ordinary steel ties in spite of a decrease of weight of more than thirty per cent and as to their lite, they endure some titty years as compared with eighteen years for ordinary steel ties and with eight` years for creosoted oak ties, withthe present heavy traffic.

My present invention contains a new and important manufacturing method tor suchreinforced steel made ties and further a suit-- able machine or jig for carrying through the manufacturing method with a considerable saving of time and expense. ln order to realize such advantages according toV my invention ordinary Bunsen heaters are used for pre heating the partsto be welded together, sol

that the consumption of electricity, oxygen ZD J.

reduced to a minimum, resulting in a saving of about in this part oi;l the manufactur ing costs. -v

Another improvement of my invention consists lin that the preheating of some parts is done while other previously preheated part-s are welded, yso thatthe workmen can go on vcontinuously welding and are able toy Aweld from two to four ties at one time. Thus making continuous the welding process and shortnew machine orjig consists in an arrangement to tilt it over certain longitudinal edges, so that after the closing of the machine by a simple tilting movementthe parts to be welded are brought over the preheating burners,

and that after suicient preheating by another 192'?, Serial No. 159,280. .Renewed DctooerL 20, 1928.`

simple retilting yin the other direction those Vshall proceed to describe it with 'reference to the figures which show a preferred embodiment oi my improved welding machineory jig, whereby- Figure 1 isa side elevation showing however certain parts in longitudinal section.

Figure 2 is a plan View. l Figure 3 is a view from the left side of F igure l.

In the shown embodiment oi my invention Ythe legs 1 support the bench or table 2 on which the welding machine or is mounted. The latter consists essentially ot a base plate f-l with a bracket et on its one end and a top plate 5 hinged `on the bracket by means ot the hinges 6, at which latter set screws 7 are provided .for adjusting the top plate 5. At

the other or "iront end ot the machine or jig (left side in Figs. 1 and 2) the base 'plate has a pivot pin 8 which bears a clamping bolt 9,

the upper end of which t's into the slot oi' a or acetylene in the weldin@V nrocess itselt is 424: with end ledges 25 and to the top plate 5 n the arms 26. The arms 24 and 26 are jointed so as to form toggle joints, which, ii straight ened lout, keep the top plate in theL raised position, as indicated by the dash dotted line in Fig. 1. It the top plate 5 is swung up around its hinges int-o that upper position 1Q, then theremay be inserted longitudinally into the the tie 'forming main channel 13, which, according to Figure 3 may havethev form of a U which rests on its back or mid-. dle part. Into its main channel are placed at the right positions the rail chairs .let near both ends of the main'channel and thestiimener 15 in the middle part of the main chan nel. On the top plate 5 there are provided guide iianges 16 and wedge shaped brackets 17 for centeringthe main channel, the chairs and the stidener inthe right position as soon as the jig is closed. 14 are the rail chairs for the straight track and in curves and switches the chairs may be broadened as indicated by 28 so as to support the guard rail too. In

order to adapt the welding machine 'to lix up those curved parts of the track too, further j the wedge 29 is made adjustable along a slot in the guard rail chair between the two endpositions shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,v

Y` together with the prcheating burners and the torches 2O with the associated supply pipes form a pair of adjacent preheating and welding stations. Referring to Fig. 3, the pre- I heating station at the lower lett hand side ot this figure and thewelding station 'at the upper lett hand side torni one pair ot adjacent lstations and the preheating station at the lower right hand side ot' the iifjure and the welding station at the upper rignt hand side also form a pair ot adjacent heating and` welding stations. j

The operation of my machine is as follows: The hand wheel nut 11 is unscrewed and the screw bolt 9 is swung down around its pivot 8. Then the top plate 5 is lit'ted around its-hinges 6 about 5 degrees into the posi-r tion 12, then the tie forming main channelY 13 can be inserted lengthwise into the jig and' the two rail chairs 14 and the stittener 15 can be inserted in inverted position at their respective places in the main channel. It then the top plate 5 is lowered again the wedge shaped brackets 17 will adjust automatically the rail chairs and the stiffener into their exact position as shown in Figure 1,' in which they are clamped by the projections 22 and 23 respectively, as soon as the screw bolt 9 is swung up again into its upper position in the vforked slot 10 and is screwed fastthere by the hand wheel 11.

The whole jig with the tic forming ehannel and rail chairs and stitl'ener vin it isthen tilted over the longer lower edge 90%., iirst to the lett side of Figure 3, so that those parts Y `come into their posit-ion indicated by dotted lines on the lett side of Figure 3. In this position the cutouts in the base plate and in the are situated above the three sets ot two rows each ot Bunsen burners, which burners will preheat those flanges of the main channel and the rail chairs and stiffeners which are to be welded; It the proper weld# ing temperature is approached', then the jig is tilted 180 degrees in the opposite direction so thatit reaches the dotted position at the right side of Figure 3. In this position the preheated flanges are exposed and may now Vbewelded by the welding torches which travel on the lines 21 to and fro, in order to carry through the welding procedure. At the same time the other flanges ot the main channel,krail and chairs and stiiener which are on the lower side are preheated by their corresponding Bunsen burners7 to be prepared for the welding process as soon as, after sutficieiitly preheating, the is again swung into `the left side position. The welding process being finished the jig is swung back into thecenter position, the hand Wheel 11 is unscrewed, the clamping bolt 9 is swung out of the forked slot 1t) and the top plate is lii'ted and held in the raised position by the straightening out of the toggle joints in i'ront of the machine. Thereupon the finished main channel with the rail chairs and the stiltener `welded onl it 'can be taken out ot the jig, and another set ot unwelded parts may be inserted into the jig7 to' repeat the yoperation as described.

A brief summary of the operation as described above is as follows: One side of the parts to be joined together is preheated at the heating station at the'lower left hand side oif Fig. 3; the jig is rocked to bring the preheated parts to thewelding station at the upperv right hand side or" Fig. 3. While the lirst preheated parts are being welded the other side'ot the parts to be joined is being preheated at the preheating station at the lower right hand side ofthe ligure; the jig is then rocked to bring the last mentioned preheated parts to the welding station at the upper left hand side of the figure. When the welding is completed at this station the jig is rocked to the middle positionand the welded tie is removed.

I claim: i Y

l. A method for manufacturing reentorced steel railroad ties consisting in: inserting the parts to be united Within a rockable jig and adjusting them therein automatically in the right position to eachother by the closing operation ol' the jig; rocking the jig with the inserted parts of the tie overrits one edge, so as to adjust the oneside of the parts to'be united over preheat-ing burners, and preheating those parts'by the said burners; re-rocking the jig and rocking it over its other edge,

Yso as to adjustI the other side of the partsto be'united over preheating burners, and 'preheating them by the latter while welding the A previously preheated side of the parts; re-

roclring the intofthek first mentioned rocked position, and welding the last preheated other side oftheY parts; andy returning the jig into its original medium posi tion and removing the finished steel tie out of it. A

2. A welding machine lfor reenforced steel ties for railroads containing in combination: a base plate and a top plate hinged thereto, adapted to clamp between them the channel like main tie and the rail chairs and tie stili- CII ener to be Welded to the main tie; preheating the burners arranged at certain places on both sides of the base plate; means for tilting the base plate With the parts clamped thereto to the right or to the left into a position close above the preheating burners; Welding torches arranged at a certain distance above the preheating burners and adapted to cover by their action successively the Whole preheated area of the parts to be Welded t0- gether.

3. A welding machine for reenforced steel ties for railroads containing in combination: means for Welding and for clamping together the tie forming main channel and the channel sections to be fastened thereon and to serve as rail chairs and as tie stitfener; means for automatically adjusting the tie forming parts to be united into their right position to each other and Within the clamping means; a pluralit)7 of groups of preheating burners arranged on either side ot the tie holding and clamping means; means for tilting the tie holding and clamping means to the one or to the other side into such position, that the tie parts to be Welded are exposed to the preheating burners; and Welding torches at suitable distance above the preheating burners and adapted to be moved along certain lines of action, so as to Weld together the previously preheated parts of the tie constituents.

4. A method for manufacturing reenforced steel railroad ties consisting in preliminaril)7 ixing the parts that are to be united to form the steel tie, Within a rockable jig, rocking steel railroad ties consisting in preliminarilyy i'ixing the parts that are vto be united to Vform the steel tie Wit-hin a rockable jig, rocking the jig so as to adjust one side of the parts to be united over preheating burners, preheating those parts; reroclring the jig so as to bring the parts just .preheated to a Welding position and Welding such parts; preheating the other side While this Welding is taking.

place; and rerocking the jig to bring these parts justpreheated to a Welding position and Welding them.

6. A vveldingx'apparatus having a preheating station and an adjacent Welding station, and a second preheating station and an adj acent Welding station, anda jig first movable to bring the parts into operative relation with the firstpreheating station, then mov-v able to reverse the parts and place them in I operative relation With the second preheating station and second Welding station, and then movable back to its original position into operative relation With the first Welding station :tor the final Welding.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name hereto.

d CARL nioKEMEYnjn. 

